Relaxing and Rejuvenating at the Lovely Treetops Resort

I’m not sure exactly when we fell in love with the quite wonderful Treetops Resort. It might have been when we saw the cheerfully decorated welcome sign in the blowing snow.

Welcome to Treetops!

Or it may have been when we first saw the lodge in the middle of a snowstorm.

What a welcome in the snow!

View of the lodge.

Or it might possibly have been when we saw our luxurious suite, when we met the amazing people who work here, when we visited the relaxing spa, when we snowshoed through the amazing landscape…OK. Possibly we fell in love several times.

Let me tell you about all of them and you will understand.

Although Treetops is technically a ski resort with different packages, ski lessons, and plenty of ski slopes, we were not actually here to ski. We were here to enjoy pretty much everything else Treetops has to offer in the winter, which is an extensive list.

My brother and SIL had already checked into the resort the previous day so had been sending us photos of their amazing suite and we were already excited about our stay before we arrived. I am all about a really comfy suite, especially one that has a bathtub big enough to swim in. Treetops had been kind enough to arrange our checkin early so that we could watch a major football game so we hurried in with all our luggage but then had to take a moment to admire the warm and welcoming lobby.

Lovely lobby area.

Love a fireplace!

Then we noticed the television on the wall and the fact that it was welcoming us to the resort – I’m pretty sure this has never happened to us before. So nice!

Quite a welcome!

We headed down the hall to our suite and were pretty impressed when we walked in. The description online really does not do it justice – Our Lodge King room offers one king size bed, a sitting area, small refrigerator, microwave, internet access and a jet tub. That is all true but the suites (I consider it a suite when you have a large sitting area, a kitchenette, and a dining table!) were really quite large and comfortable. Even though each couple had their own room, the four of us spent a lot of time in each other’s room eating, watching television, and relaxing and the rooms were very comfortable for four people.

Nice kitchenette!

I think this might be the biggest tub I have ever seen.

After enjoying our rooms for the afternoon, we spiffed up and headed out for dinner with the marketing folks for Treetops as well as several other people including the General Manager and the culinary team. We were scheduled for a paired Michigan Craft Brew dinner and Tom could not possibly have been more excited. He loves local craft beers and we have been known to purchase an exorbitant amount to take home in the past. After meeting the friendly group of people and marking one more reason to fall in love with this place as they could not possibly have been any nicer (they even kindly invited my brother and SIL to dinner even though they have absolutely nothing to do with media), we headed to the Hunter’s Grille for our special dinner.

The restaurant is a very nice location with a stage for local musical acts but it wasn’t until we arrived that we realized just how special our dinner would be as we were the only guests in the restaurant! We have been to plenty of wine paired dinners but this was truly unique in that the food was chosen to complement the various craft beers, instead of vice versa. And the very talented chef has also used different craft brews in the unique recipes so everything was quite delicious.

The only problem was that the food was so good and the company so wonderful that I only got one photo of our amazing dinner and that was the beer-infused ice cream!

Just one of the many wonderful things we had for dinner.

Although we were not interested in skiing on this trip, we do love the snow and Treetops arranged a special snowshoeing outing for us. We headed out into the snowy countryside in a van with our snowshoes tucked carefully in the back and our friendly guide filling us in on the location, which he obviously loves. We drove to what had to be one of the most unique areas in all of Michigan – a former outdoor safari park where the original owners built an extensive area including housing for exotic animals and a train to ride around the park. Unfortunately the idea did not work out but it’s the perfect place to snowshoe.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day as we strapped on our snowshoes and got ready for our outdoor adventure. Our SIL had decided to try snowshoeing after we assured her that it was very easy and she ended up loving every minute.

What a great day!

Heading out!

What beautiful scenery!

We really love snowshoeing – the quiet and the beauty of the fallen snow really make it a great experience and it’s easy enough for anyone to do.

Snowy path through the woods.

Because Tom is industrious and, frankly, in much better shape than us, we let him climb up a hill with our guide to get some shots while we took a breather.

Beautiful view!

Although snowshoeing is pretty easy, it is still an active sport and so we were extremely delighted that Treetops had arranged massages for the womenfolk at the spa. The guys were perfectly happy hanging out and we enjoyed our massages immensely. The spa offers pretty much any treatment you could want and I would imagine a massage would feel especially nice after a day on the slopes!

Welcome to my favorite place!

Oh, yeeeessss!

The only thing that would have made it even better was if we had ventured out to the hot tub. We just weren’t sure whether we would like lounging in a hot tub in the snow but, after experiencing it at another location, I realize now we would have loved it!

We should have tried this – maybe next time!

Even though we weren’t skiing, plenty of people were and I’m sure it gets very busy here on the weekends in the winter.

Lots of skiers.

We were completely satisfied with our one winter outing but were a little disappointed that it got so bitter cold that we weren’t able to snowshoe and see the local elk in the Pigeon River State Forest as we had planned. We also didn’t have time to check out charming little Gaylord, an Alpine influenced town with lots of interesting looking little shops and restaurants or go tubing as it is only available on certain days.

That’s OK. We will do those and other things the next time we visit.

Because there will be a next time as this place is awesome.

Instead we had to make do with lounging in our rooms, having snacks and watching television as the snow fell outside.

It’s certainly a tough life.

View from our balcony.

Full disclosure: Our stay and activities were provided by Treetops Resortbut as always, we will share our honest opinions about any travel experiences we have.
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